Regrets about switching to all digital/almost all digital?

[Sarge]

I still like to buy physical CDs, because of the ability to rip them. It's the best of both worlds: I can listen wherever I want, and still have something that retains value.

Games are one where I'm always going to prioritize physical releases, unless the cost curve is such that the digital is insanely cheaper. For example, if I didn't own my Demon's Crest cart, I'd probably have bought it on VC on day one. But maybe not, because emulation and I'm a dirty pirate.

I find myself caring much less when it comes to movies. I'm willing to stream most content, and on my connection I can certainly tell the difference, but it doesn't bother me. It's good enough. Only a few select shows exist where I want a legit, physical set. Agatha Christie's Poirot is one of them.

[dsheinem]

For those of you who have unloaded hundreds of CDs and DVDs or Blus, where did you do it to get the best value for your stuff?

[Tanooki]

I take them to a local ma and pa shop or the lame half price books. They tend to not get much if they're common, but box sets tend to do fairly better. Anything I know I could knock out $20+ for online I won't even bother and go right to that because I know they'll ask as much or slightly higher (HPB is crooked locally one more than the other of 2 here) than it is really worth. The store that gets the goodies is the one with something on the shelf I want as they pay up basically the same.

[Jmustang1968]

For those of you who have unloaded hundreds of CDs and DVDs or Blus, where did you do it to get the best value for your stuff?

goodluck. CDs, unless a rarer collector item, fetch hardly anything. I think DVDs go for a dollar or 2.

So unless you just really need the space, it probably isn't even worth the time and effort to sell them.

[dsheinem]

hmmm, it looks increasingly like storing the discs in a smaller container for access and the cases elsewhere for cds/dvds/blus may be a good option. What storage options for discs do people use? Conventional logic, iirc, was that most cd books/case logic-type stuff would scratch your discs over time...

[Tanooki]

Unless something changed that's what I knew historically was that those binders from the pressure and rubbing as stuff goes in/out will scuff stuff up. Blu-ray is a non issue as they're rugged however they were changed up, but DVD and CD you can look at them funny and the get scuffs or worse.

The only choice I was thinking of which isn't a huge saver are those individual slim cases which are marginally larger than the disc itself as I think 3 of those fit in the space of one normal case.

[Sarge]

There's Discgear, and various knockoffs of those. I was looking at those for a while, probably should again.

[Exhuminator]

If you truly care about your optical media, do not store it in binders.

[Xeogred]

Funny timing, I spent a good weekend or so a few weeks back ripping about a 100 or so CD's I don't want around anymore (about half my collection). Now they're just sitting in my living room piled up because I have no idea what to do with them. Waiting for my parents to move since I think they'll run a garage sale soon, so I was going to take them over there... maybe a buck a CD I guess?

It was nice, but now I'm not sure how I feel about the second half of my collection that I wanted to keep around, because I've had these CD's for a good 10 years or so and they're all pretty beat up from the car rides, so it's almost like half of them skip. I take good care of my stuff but I guess it was inevitable something like this would be beaten up overtime.

If I upgrade my stereo in my car someday that has USB access or whatever, yeah I don't know what I'll do with my CD's...

Overall I'll just echo what some others said, I'm still very pro physical media when it comes to games and don't see that ever changing. Also feel the same way about movies and anime (especially obscure releases of old titles or something that you just know will be rare to come by eventually). I guess I don't value DVD's much though and have replaced some stuff with BD's. But my movie collection is basically nothing, barely takes up a single row on a normal shelf. Currently my games collection is taking up my entire shelf which is pretty big and I've got some double rows, but yeah. I think I'm doing pretty good and it's definitely not a problem if my collection is still mostly confined to one shelf.


I can see how throwing out games is relieving to some here, I keep throwing out tons of crap and clothes, etc, which feels great. Even downsizing furniture and being as simplistic as possible. But gaming has and will forever be different to me, it's my #1 hobby and always will be. I grew up and traded in games a lot until high school probably. And I regret most of my trades to this day. A Sega JVC, Mega Man Legends 2, etc...

Also I'm a very organized guy and a bit of a clean freak, and the physical media aspect reflects things in my gaming habits. I have a weird system about how I organize the games on my shelf separating what I beat and my backlog, I consistently beat things knocking down my backlog, and most of my yearly lists are purely made up of console gaming. Organized and efficient = happy me.

My computer on the other hand is an absolute jungle of a mess with folders, things like anime on 3-4 different drives, browsers and tabs open for days, weeks, months, tons of Steam games I'll never touch (I don't even know how I got some of them). It's complete chaos and with chaos, I'm not as motivated to complete things. It's so funny and weird, but maybe some others here know what I'm getting at. Looking over to a nicely arranged shelf of games is much more appealing to look at than some giant ass LIST of titles in a menu, which gives me no excitement or interest. I have my PC phases, but they are very rare.

[Tanooki]

You want a cheap NOW solution that is goddamn ridiculous for your portable audio needs in a car stuck with a cd, radio, or er...tape?

Anker Classic Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker. MSRP $80, Amazon sells it for $34.


I got this thing maybe 6 months ago, mostly sits on my desk. One day I got inspired, took it into the honda we have since unlike my edge which has a headphones jack in it, the Honda doesn't. That speaker is heavy for its size, a big old cube shaped brick...why you ask? Big ass battery, that and the 4W 2" driver in it for some meaty bass.

The site says 15-20 hours on a battery, realistically figure a day. It's loud, you won't want to put it up to maximum in a closed area or close to yourself. If I set it up all the way it'll be very audible clear across my ranch style home in the back bedroom (and it's in the far other end of the house on my desk.)

I took this in that car maybe a month ago on a test, sync'd the thing up, and the way it carries itself was almost as nice as running it out of an in car sound system as it has a good range to it. Also if you lack bluetooth, it does have the normal aux in port to use a male/male phones jack in it. It comes in this nice soft plush gray zip bag to store it and with a small usb charge cable (not long to fill it.)

I can't recommend it highly enough as the sound it puts out as other amazon reviews would say blows out stuff in its price class and into the next (the $100+ stuff.) Despite being a cube it fits in a cup holder quite well.